Fall In Auckland House Prices Stalls In Final Quarter

While Auckland’s leading real estate agency experienced its slowest month of trading in a December for five years, and the median price for the month was 16 percent below peak, prices on a month-by-month basis have remained static for four months.

“Contrary to the expectations of economists and commentators, the median price paid for property in December has barely moved from where it was in September,” said Peter Thompson, Managing Director of Barfoot & Thompson.

“In December, the median price paid was $1,067,500, the second highest median price in the past four months.

“In the first eight months of the year the median price declined gradually, but then stopped falling and has remained static since.

“A similar pattern can be seen in the average sales price, which at $1,155,131 for December, was the highest average price in three months.

“While all the drivers putting pressure on prices such as rising interest rates and inflation, concerns over future economic activity and more properties for sale than there have been for a decade remain, vendors have become cautious about accepting what they consider to be too low an offer.

“In December, the effect of this reluctance was particularly felt in the under $750,000 price category, and we sold only 90 homes in this price segment.

“At the same time, we sold 37 homes for more than $2 million, 12 of them for more than $3 million.

“Overall, 2022 was a challenging one for property and was dominated by extremely low sales numbers and falling prices.

“During the year we sold 37 percent fewer homes than in 2021, and the average number of homes sold each month at 706 was our lowest since 2010.

“However, while prices fell, they have remained at high levels when compared to those being achieved in the early part of 2021 and before they peaked in the last quarter of 2021.

“The stability of prices over the past four months has resulted in the median monthly sales price for the 2022 calendar year being $1,117,000, which is 1.4 percent higher than that for 2021.

“New listings continue to reach the market, and in December we listed 702 new properties, and at month end we had 4664 properties on our books.

“The rural and lifestyle market experienced quiet trading in December with sales of $33 million, bringing the average monthly sales for the full year to $66.9 million, the lowest monthly average since 2019.

“In Northland, buyer interest continued to be shown in beef breeding and finishing units with larger units being sought for forestry, which remains a big player in bare land sales.”

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